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Biology was forged into a single, coherent science only within
living memory. In this volume the thinkers responsible for the
"modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology and genetics come
together to analyze that remarkable event.
In a new Preface, Ernst Mayr calls attention to the fact that
scientists in different biological disciplines varied considerably
in their degree of acceptance of Darwin's theories. Mayr shows us
that these differences were played out in four separate periods:
1859 to 1899, 1900 to 1915, 1916 to 1936, and 1937 to 1947. He thus
enables us to understand fully why the synthesis was necessary and
why Darwin's original theory that evolutionary change is due to the
combination of variation and selection is as solid at the end of
the twentieth century as it was in 1859.
One ofthe most important aspects in research fields where
mathematics is "applied is the construction of a formal model of a
real system. As for structural relations, graphs have turned out to
provide the most appropriate tool for setting up the mathematical
model. This is certainly one of the reasons for the rapid expansion
in graph theory during the last decades. Furthermore, in recent
years it also became clear that the two disciplines of graph theory
and computer science have very much in common, and that each one
has been capable of assisting significantly in the development of
the other. On one hand, graph theorists have found that many of
their problems can be solved by the use of com puting techniques,
and on the other hand, computer scientists have realized that many
of their concepts, with which they have to deal, may be
conveniently expressed in the lan guage of graph theory, and that
standard results in graph theory are often very relevant to the
solution of problems concerning them. As a consequence, a
tremendous number of publications has appeared, dealing with
graphtheoretical problems from a computational point of view or
treating computational problems using graph theoretical concepts."
It is now generally recognized that the publication of Darwin's
Origin of Species in 1859 not only decisively altered the basic
concepts of biological theory but had a profound and lasting
influence on social, philosophic, and religious thought. This work
is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever
printed. The first edition had a freshness and uncompromising
directness that were considerably weakened in subsequent editions.
Nearly all reprints were based on the greatly modified sixth
edition (1872), and the only modern reprint changes pagination,
making references to the original very difficult. Clearly, there
has been a need for a facsimile reprint. Professor Mayr's
introduction has a threefold purpose: to list passages in the first
edition that Darwin altered in later editions; to point out
instances in which Darwin was clearly pioneering; and to call
attention to neglected passages that show Darwin as a much deeper
thinker than has been recognized. No one can fail to be impressed
by the originality of Darwin's treatment and by the intellectual
challenge his work presents even to the modern reader.
This masterly and long-awaited work is a full exposition,
synthesis, summation, and critical evaluation of the present state
of man s knowledge about the nature of animal species and of the
part they play in the processes of evolution. In a series of twenty
chapters, Ernst Mayr presents a consecutive story, beginning with a
description of evolutionary biology and ending with a discussion of
man as a biological species. Calling attention to unsolved
problems, and relating the evolutionary subject matter to
appropriate material from other fields, such as physiology,
genetics, and biochemistry, the author integrates and interprets
existing data. Believing that an unequivocal stand is more likely
to produce constructive criticism than evasion of an issue, he does
not hesitate to choose that interpretation of a controversial
matter which to him seems most consistent with the emerging picture
of the evolutionary process. Between the terminal points mentioned
above, Mr. Mayr pursues the narrative through discussions of
species concepts and their application, morphological species
characters and sibling species, biological properties of species,
isolating mechanisms, hybridization, the variation and genetics of
populations, storage and protection of genetic variation, the unity
of the genotype, geographic variation, the polytypic species of the
taxonomist, the population structure of species, kinds of species,
multiplication of species, geographic speciation, the genetics of
speciation, the ecology of speciation, and species and transpecific
evolution. The volume provides a valuable glossary; and an
inclusive bibliography greatly extends its range for those who wish
to investigate special aspects of the material. "Animal Species and
Evolution" is presented as a permanent entity. In accordance with
the author s feeling that the acquisition of new knowledge will
require a new statement, rather than an emendation of a previous
one, no substantive revisions of this volume are planned for future
printings. Because of the impossibility of experimenting with man,
and because an understanding of man s biology is indispensable for
safeguarding his future, emphasis throughout this book is placed on
those findings from the higher animals which are directly
applicable to man. In his final chapter on hominids and the various
forms of "Homo," Mr. Mayr comes to the conclusion that, while
modern man appears to be just as well adapted for survival purposes
as were his ancestors, there is much evidence to suggest that he is
threatened by the loss of his most typically human characteristics.
It would be within his power to reverse this tendency.
This collection of revised and new essays argues that biology is an
autonomous science rather than a branch of the physical sciences.
Ernst Mayr, widely considered the most eminent evolutionary
biologist of the 20th century, offers insights on the history of
evolutionary thought, critiques the conditions of philosophy to the
science of biology, and comments on several of the major
developments in evolutionary theory. Notably, Mayr explains that
Darwin's theory of evolution is actually five separate theories,
each with its own history, trajectory and impact. Ernst Mayr,
commonly referred to as the "Darwin of the 20th century" and listed
as one of the top 100 scientists of all-time, is Professor Emeritus
at Harvard University. What Makes Biology Unique is the 25th book
he has written during his long and prolific career. His recent
books include This is Biology: The Science of the Living World
(Belknap Press, 1997) and What Evolution Is (Basic Books, 2002).
"Ein einzigartiges Buch, das nur von einem Mann wie Ernst Mayr
geschrieben werden konnte, der nicht nur einer der bedeutendsten
Evolutionsbiologen dieses Jahrhunderts, sondern auch ein grosser
Philosoph, Biologiehistoriker und aussergewohnlicher Schriftsteller
ist. Kein anderes Buch erzahlt so klar und kritisch die Evolution
der Ideen, die zur modernen Biologie fuhrten."
("Nobelpreistrager Francois Jacob")"
Die deutsche Ausgabe meiner Aufsatze begrli e ich mit besonderer
Freude, da die Anfange meiner Gedankengange oft bis zu den Zei- ten
zurlickreichen, als ich noch in Berlin am Zoologischen Museum der
Universitat tatig war. Die Probleme, mit denen ich mich in die- ser
Sammlung auseinandersetze, werden nicht nur in der wissen-
schaftlichen, sondern auch in der philosophischen Literatur
eifrigst erortert. Besonders wichtig fUr die Behandlung dieser
Probleme ist das Auftauchen v611ig neuer Denkrichtungen in der
modernen Evo- lutionsbiologie. In der Wissenschaftsphilosophie, und
besonders bei den Positivisten, war die Uberzeugung weit
verbreitet, alle Pro- bleme der Biologie konnten letzten Endes auf
die Gesetze der Physik und Chemie zurlickgeflihrt werden. Wer
widersprach, dem wurde vorgeworfen, Vitalist oder Mystiker zu sein.
Da jedoch diese Auffassung der Positivisten falsch ist, wird in
einigen meiner Aufsatze nachgewiesen. Bei der Zusammenstellung
dieses Bandes habe ich mich von dem Prinzip leiten lassen, so1che
Aufsatze zu wahlen, die sich mit neuen Entwicklungen in der
Gedankenwelt der Biologen beschiifti- gen. Ais besonders wichtige
Themen erschienen mir die Wirksam- keit der natUrlichen Auslese,
der Populationsgedanke, das Prinzip der Teleonomie, die Rolle des
genetischen Programms und andere gedankliche Entwicklungen der
modernen Biologie, mit denen nicht nur Wissenschaftler und
Philosophen, sondern auch jeder gebildete Laie vertraut sein soUte,
denn ohne dieses Verstandnis ist eine moderne Weltanschauung
eigentlich undenkbar. Oft wird, und leider zu Recht, auf die
gedankliche Kluft zwi- schen Wissenschaftlern und Humanisten
hingewiesen.
Biology until recently has been the neglected stepchild of science,
and many educated people have little grasp of how biology explains
the natural world. Yet to address the major political and moral
questions that face us today, we must acquire an understanding of
their biological roots. This magisterial new book by Ernst Mayr
will go far to remedy this situation. An eyewitness to this
century's relentless biological advance and the creator of some of
its most important concepts, Mayr is uniquely qualified to offer a
vision of science that places biology firmly at the center, and a
vision of biology that restores the primacy of holistic,
evolutionary thinking. As he argues persuasively, the physical
sciences cannot address many aspects of nature that are unique to
life. Living organisms must be understood at every level of
organization; they cannot be reduced to the laws of physics and
chemistry. Mayr's approach is refreshingly at odds with the
reductionist thinking that dominated scientific research earlier in
this century, and will help to redirect how people think about the
natural world. This Is Biology can also be read as a "life history"
of the discipline--from its roots in the work of Aristotle, through
its dormancy during the Scientific Revolution and its flowering in
the hands of Darwin, to its spectacular growth with the advent of
molecular techniques. Mayr maps out the territorial overlap between
biology and the humanities, especially history and ethics, and
carefully describes important distinctions between science and
other systems of thought, including theology. Both as an overview
of the sciences of life and as the culmination of a remarkable life
in science, This Is Biology will richly reward professionals and
general readers alike.
Additional Contributors Are Verne Grant, John Imbrie, Ernst Mayr,
John A. Moore, C. Ladd Prosser, And T. M. Sonneborn. December
28-29, 1955.
Preface By Robert Cushman Murphy. Edited By Margaret B. Hickey.
Preface By Robert Cushman Murphy. Edited By Margaret B. Hickey.
At once a spirited defense of Darwinian explanations of biology and
an elegant primer on evolution for the general reader, What
Evolution Is poses the questions at the heart of evolutionary
theory and considers how our improved understanding of evolution
has affected the viewpoints and values of modern man. Science
Masters Series
No one in this century can speak with greater authority on the
progress of ideas in biology than Ernst Mayr. And no book has ever
established the life sciences so firmly in the mainstream of
Western intellectual history as The Growth of Biological Thought.
Ten years in preparation, this is a work of epic proportions,
tracing the development of the major problems of biology from the
earliest attempts to find order in the diversity of life, to modern
research into the mechanisms of gene transmission.
Evolutionary theory ranks as one of the most powerful concepts of
modern civilization. Its effects on our view of life have been wide
and deep. One of the most world-shaking books ever published,
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, first appeared in print
over 130 years ago, and it touched off a debate that rages to this
day. Every modern evolutionist turns to Darwin's work again and
again. Current controversies in the life sciences very often have
as their starting point some vagueness in Darwin's writings or some
question Darwin was unable to answer owing to the insufficient
biological knowledge available during his time. Despite the intense
study of Darwin's life and work, however, many of us cannot explain
his theories (he had several separate ones) and the evidence and
reasoning behind them, nor do we appreciate the modifications of
the Darwinian paradigm that have kept it viable throughout the
twentieth century. Who could elucidate the subtleties of Darwin's
thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs--A.
R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weismann, Asa Gray--better than
Ernst Mayr, a man considered by many to be the greatest
evolutionist of the century? In this gem of historical scholarship,
Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Charles Darwin's
scientific thought and his enormous legacy to twentieth-century
biology. Here we have an accessible account of the revolutionary
ideas that Darwin thrust upon the world. Describing his treatise as
one long argument, Darwin definitively refuted the belief in the
divine creation of each individual species, establishing in its
place the concept that all of life descended from a common
ancestor. He proposed the idea that humans were not the special
products of creation but evolved according to principles that
operate everywhere else in the living world; he upset current
notions of a perfectly designed, benign natural world and
substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival;
and he introduced probability, chance, and uniqueness into
scientific discourse. This is an important book for students,
biologists, and general readers interested in the history of
ideas--especially ideas that have radically altered our worldview.
Here is a book by a grand master that spells out in simple terms
the historical issues and presents the controversies in a manner
that makes them understandable from a modern perspective.
The diversity of living forms and the unity of evolutionary
processes are themes that have permeated the research and writing
of Ernst Mayr, a Grand Master of evolutionary biology. The essays
collected here are among his most valuable and durable:
contributions that form the basis for much of the contemporary
understanding of evolutionary biology.
Biology was forged into a single, coherent science only within
living memory. In this volume the thinkers responsible for the
"modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology and genetics come
together to analyze that remarkable event.
In a new Preface, Ernst Mayr calls attention to the fact that
scientists in different biological disciplines varied considerably
in their degree of acceptance of Darwin's theories. Mayr shows us
that these differences were played out in four separate periods:
1859 to 1899, 1900 to 1915, 1916 to 1936, and 1937 to 1947. He thus
enables us to understand fully why the synthesis was necessary and
why Darwin's original theory--that evolutionary change is due to
the combination of variation and selection--is as solid at the end
of the twentieth century as it was in 1859.
What we do and do not know about evolution, by one of the field's
pioneering thinkers. Evolution is the most important idea in
biology, with implications that go far beyond science. But despite
more than a century's progress in understanding, there is still
widespread confusion about what evolution is, how it works and why
it is the only plausible mechanism that can account for the
remarkable diversity of life on Earth. Now, for the first time in a
book aimed at a general audience, one of the founding fathers of
modern biology tells us what we know - and what we do not know -
about evolution. In showing how evolution has gone from theory to
fact, he explores various controversial fads and fallacies such as
punctuated equilibrium, the selfish-gene theory and evolutionary
psychology. He ends by looking at what we know about human
evolution and how, in turn, this knowledge has affected the way in
which we view ourselves and the world.
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